An Industrial Control System (ICS) includes combinations of control components (e.g., electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic) that act together to achieve, an industrial objective (e.g., manufacturing, transportation of matter or energy).
Many ICS comprise, for example, a number of field sites where industrial objectives are accomplished, together with, for example, a control center which monitors and manages the industrial objective. The control center and field sites are linked via, for example, telecommunications channels or data links. The control center monitors or manages the industrial objective using, for example, industrial control protocols such as DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol), Modbus, OPC, and the like.
Attacks by malicious parties on industrial control systems have been an increasing concern. This is because ICS were ‘designed insecure’, with the assumption of air gap between the intranet and the internet. Cyber attacks on ICS have already disrupted critical infrastructure and in the future may cause even more profound damage to facilities, critical services, the environment, and even human life.